BARTRAM’S GARDEN CURATOR, JOEL FRY, SPEAKS AT OPENING OF FOLLOWING IN THE BARTRAMS’ FOOTSTEPS

In conjunction with the traveling exhibition, Following in the Bartrams’ Footsteps: Contemporary Botanical Artists Explore the Bartrams’ Legacy, the Cherokee Garden Library at the Atlanta History Center presents an opening event featuring Joel Fry, curator of Bartram’s Garden in Philadelphia, on March 19, 2014 at 7:00 pm as part of the Ashley Wright McIntyre Lecture Series at the Cherokee Garden Library.

On display from March 19 – June 17, 2014 in the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center, Following in the Bartrams’ Footsteps was organized by the American Society of Botanical Artists at the New York Botanical Garden in collaboration with Bartram’s Garden in Philadelphia. Local lead sponsors are Lee and Mike Dunn; Harry Norman, Realtors; and the Mimosa Garden Club.

Joel Fry will present a survey of William Bartram’s breathtaking illustrations and examine the scope and influences of his career as a seminal American natural history illustrator. Fry, who is widely published, is a leading scholar on both John and William Bartram and their botanic and collecting careers in the eighteenth century. Fry’s lecture will be followed by a reception and an opportunity to explore the exhibition.

William Bartram (1739-1823), son of Philadelphia botanist, John Bartram (1699-1777), is recognized as a seminal natural history illustrator, based largely on a single collection of drawings discovered at the Natural History Museum, London at the beginning of the twentieth century. The collection comprises roughly one third of Bartram’s remaining oeuvre—made in the American South, 1773-1776. But Bartram’s career as an illustrator spanned from his teens into his sixties, and major collections of his work may be found in several places. Drawings sent to Peter Collinson in London are preserved in the Earl of Derby’s collection, and drawings from Philadelphia collected by Benjamin Smith Barton are housed at the American Philosophical Society. Letters and other manuscripts suggest many drawings have been lost or await discovery in obscure archives. Scattered engravings were also published in Europe and America—most toward the end of Bartram’s career as an artist. Joel Fry’s presentation will survey William Bartram’s illustrations and examine the scope and influences of his career. Raised as a Quaker, Bartram’s religious training was opposed to the very idea of graphical art but Bartram seems to have eluded Quaker prohibitions by producing useful, scientific illustrations. Bartram was largely self-taught, tutored by the illustrated books in his father’s library—Catesby, Edwards, Sloane, Parkinson, and others. He mentored a new generation of young American natural history artists in the early nineteenth century, including nieces and nephews, neighbors, and most significantly the ornithologist Alexander Wilson.

This special evening is part of the Ashley Wright McIntyre Lecture Series at the Cherokee Garden Library at the Atlanta History Center. In 2008, Franklin Raymond McIntyre III and his children, Constance Ashford McIntyre and F. Raymond McIntyre IV, created an endowment at the Cherokee Garden Library to support occasional lectures and programs in memory of Ashley Wright McIntyre (1957-2008). An avid gardener and artist, native Atlantan Ashley McIntyre was an active member of the Cherokee Garden Club of Atlanta, the Junior League of Atlanta, and the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta.

Individual tickets are $25.00. Reservations are required for all lectures; call 404.814.4150 or purchase online at AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Bartram. All lecture ticket purchases are nonrefundable.

Additional programming and group tours are available through the run of the exhibition, Following in the Bartrams’ Footsteps. Visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Bartram to explore all of the exciting opportunities.